Category: York House

York House Centre on the London Road is a thriving youth and community centre since 1963, when the building was taken over by the St Giles Youth Club. Two years later, in 1965, the organisation changed its name to the York House Youth Club. So where did the name come from?

York House Centre today

Well, it doesn’t start here. The name comes from the house at 77 High Street, for many years now the Conservative Club. It was built by John York as a private house in 1840. He was the owner of the Tannery and for a time a partner in one of Stony Stratford’s early banks.

77 High Street, the original York House

In 1892, Adeline Slade moved her school for girls to Stony Stratford and took out a lease on 77 High Street. She named her school, York House School, and it operated from these premises for a decade. In 1902, after some unsatisfactory experiences with her landlord, she moved to a large house on the London Road for a rental of £50 a year. Three years later she was able to buy the property at auction for £810.

York House as a Girls School

She wished to keep the name of the school, and notwithstanding the name of the house at 77 High Street, she named it York House, a name that survives today.